Capitol Business: Kopp’s gone, but his focus on regulatory reform lives on

Colorado Senate Minority Leader Mike Kopp may be gone from the Legislature, but his legacy of regulatory reform efforts will live on with his successor, Tim Neville, who was chosen by Senate District 22 Republicans at a meeting Thursday night.

Neville said Friday that his top issue for the upcoming session will be reducing regulation on businesses, which mirrors Kopp’s biggest focus of the past two years.

Though Neville hasn’t identified particular reforms he hopes to push, he does want to delve into the topic to find out what is holding businesses back from creating jobs.

“The main thing I don’t want to do is put more barriers to business,” Neville said. “I believe there is definitely areas for improvement, for taking a look at some of the laws that may not be useful for growing businesses, especially small businesses.”

Kopp resigned his seat Oct. 21, saying that he needed to devote more time to his four children after his wife, Kimberly, died of cancer in July. Senate Republicans elevated Sen. Bill Cadman of Colorado Springs to his role as minority leader last month.

Neville, 55, defeated state Rep. Jim Kerr to win Kopp’s south Jefferson County seat in a vote by Senate District 22 Republican officials. He will be sworn in sometime in the future.

The Littleton-area resident works as a regional sales representative at SGS, a food safety company. He also owns and operates Neville Insurance Associates, an agency specializing in policies for small businesses.

Neville expressed admiration for Kopp’s efforts at regulatory reform. Kopp ran bills each of the last two years that would have created task forces to evaluate the largest regulatory reform measures in the state in half a century.

Though both failed, Gov. John Hickenlooper has said that eliminating unnecessary regulations ranks as one of his top goals for 2012.

“I’m very excited to get with the caucus and eliminate these barriers,” Neville said.

Neville, a longtime campaign volunteer but first-time office-holder, is married with two sons and five grandchildren. His appointment is good for one year, and he will have to run in a general election in 2012 if he wishes to keep the seat.